By election, by prescription and by conquest
by meldahlie
Summary: The Captain of the Guard and the former Secretary of the Archives reconsider the King of Attolia. Missing moment, set just after KoA.


By election, by prescription and by conquest

~:~

The Captain of the Guard and the former Secretary of the Archives reconsider the King of Attolia. Missing moment, set just after KoA.

~:~

 _A/N: For a thoughtful Roundhead, who knows about the making and stiffening of armies. All characters belong to MWT; the title is from CS Lewis' Prince Caspian._

~:~

Somebody knocked gently at the door. Relius, sitting in his bed propped against a stack of pillows, looked round from staring out of the window. "Come in? Ah, Teleus! Come in! I wasn't expecting you." He gestured towards the empty tray on the small table by the bed. "Most people are at dinner at this hour. I thought you would be."

"It's about the only time I'm off duty when I can be sure Their Majesties won't be here," Teleus replied, drawing up a chair.

Perhaps Relius looked surprised; perhaps Teleus simply realised he had spoken of the king and queen rather differently than had been his wont. "You heard?" he asked abruptly, shifting his chair awkwardly. "About – this morning?"

"From the Queen," said Relius simply.

"Ah," said Teleus.

There were a few moment's silence. The two most loyal servants of the Queen of Attolia both stared unspeaking at the foot-board of Relius' bed. Then Teleus shuffled on his chair again. "It wasn't – just – that he beat me," he said almost defensively.

"It wasn't – just – that he released me from prison," Relius agreed.

"Just-"

"Quite."

They sat in another companionable silence. Relius broke it this time. "So the Guard is to be reduced?"

Teleus sighed. "You heard that too?"

Relius nodded. "Also from the Queen."

"Halved," said Teleus heavily. "He asked me. And I said yes." He looked sideways at Relius. "I knew you'd be glad to hear it. You were always concerned by the Guard."

"In one way," said Relius carefully, "it is an opportunity, Teleus. They are your Guard: the most loyal, best trained flower of Attolia's army." The Captain of the Guard winced. Relius nodded. "Yes; but you don't have to destroy them. This isn't some battle in which half of the Guard is slaughtered. It is a chance to move half of them to improve the entire rest of the army. A new stiffening for all our troops."

Teleus stared at his hands. "You are right," he said after a minute's thought, his voice no longer pained. "I had not thought of it like that. Only as an ending."

"But it can be a new beginning."

Teleus nodded. "I had not thought of it that way," he repeated. "As a chance for wider improvements..." He sat up suddenly in near-indignation. "Do you suppose HE had!?"

Relius jumped at his companion's ferocity. "I – I don't know. I – confess I had only just thought of it myself." He looked towards Teleus a little anxiously. "His Majesty certainly hadn't mentioned it to me. Our conversations..." Relius gestured in a small, vague way. "They are mostly … scholarly."

"Scholarly?" echoed Teleus, self-consciously fingering the deep blue-black bruise on his neck.

"Eddisians have always been noted for being warlike," Relius observed.

"Scholarly? Warlike?" Teleus shook his head. "I think Ambassador-from-Eddis Ornon probably described him best this morning. Whines, complains, ducks; is vain, petty, maddening, but doesn'tever quit. Ever."

"And he has your loyalty."

Teleus put his hands on his knees, and sat up as if on a slat bench in a steam room. "Yes," he said simply. "Mine and the Guard's, to the very mouth of hell. For my King, as for my Queen."

Relius eyed him carefully. "Regretful?"

"No," said Teleus earnestly. "Perhaps for the wasted time, but he apologised for that. It's just … the Queen." He shook his head again. "You and I have known her, in a certain way, for years. And I just don't understand how she puts up with him, sometimes."

"The Queen," said Relius, looking at the chair by the wall she had sat on earlier, "does see him – differently."

"Oh, I know that," said Teleus. "I knew that before, even; when I thought it was one of her mistakes. I will just never understand how–" He gestured like Relius. " 'How', all this."

"Would you change it?" asked Relius quietly.

There was a pause. "I … I might wish we had got here by a slightly different route," said Teleus slowly, his mind running back over the worst day of his life, in the megaron in Ephrata. "But … no."

Relius nodded. "And the same for the Queen."

~:~:~


End file.
